AP: Family Sues Over Teacher's Religious Lessons ("Christians' scent")

[Hissyspit]

http://www.fayettevillenc.com/story.php?Template=local&Story=6908169

The student is the school spelling bee champion and the principal's response to the complaint from the parents was apparently: "What's the problem? Don't you and your family go to church?"

I believe the 'scent' thing is a reference to 2 Cor 2:14-16 (Phi) "Thanks be to God who leads us, wherever we are, on Christ's triumphant way and makes our knowledge of him spread throughout the world like a lovely perfume! We Christians have the unmistakable 'scent' of Christ, discernible alike to those who are being saved and to those who are heading to death. To the latter it seems like the deathly smell of doom, to the former it has the refreshing fragrance of life itself."

This is meant as metaphor, I would imagine, and not literally, as the teacher (who is a visiting teacher from Australia; VTP or ACT, probably) seems to say in her lesson, at least the part reproduced in the article.

Family files suit over teacher's religious lessons
The Associated Press

RALEIGH - A Cumberland County fifth-grader's family sued the county school system in federal court because her teacher used a Christian text that preached creationism and encouraged children to proselytize for Jesus.

The lawsuit was filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Raleigh. The school system acknowledged in a separate filing that the allegations were true.

Cumberland County officials said the religious materials that were employed by the Sunnyside Elementary School teacher wouldn't be used again.

One lesson the parents objected to said that "God's word tells us about a kind of odor only Christians have."

MORE AT LINK

[BlueEyedSon]

1. kick

[Klapaucius]

2. For the vast majority of them....

That smell is hypocrisy. I can count on the fingers of my two hands,
the number of Christian folk I've met in my life who've walked the walk.

K.

[blogbear]

3. Welcome..and I have a salute of one finger on one hand..

for those who haven't..

[UpInArms]

12. my grandmother alway said:

"The bad use God and God uses the good".

[Robb]

16. That's a keeper

...I'm writing that one down and sticking it in my bat-belt. :thumbsup:

[havocmom]

28. UpInArms, may I quote your grandmother?

Looking for a good quote for my new sig line.
That one is worthy of being carved in stone and placed at courthouses!

[UpInArms]

35. havocmom, you have my permission to use that

when and wherever you want - her initials were ls - and she was born in 1894 and died in 1984 - she was an amazing person and I still miss her.

[Hissyspit]

4. Sunday morning kick! n/t

[annabanana]

5. I was not familiar with that particular snippet

of the Bible. The thought of the fundys being literal about this one strikes me funny. I picture them sniffing around, like dogs looking for that scent marker.

[me b zola]

18. Indeed

They would be better served to search the scalp of their beloved chimp and his criminal administration for the mark of the beast.

[LiberalFighter]

27. They need to sniff lower to find the scent they want

[Gman]

6. Regarding evolution...

"...but in February the girl brought home a worksheet that referred to God's design as the reason why animals were colored to match their surroundings."

[alcibiades_mystery]

19. Would that God had made eyes as hard as diamonds

We'd have no such blindness...:eyes:

[me b zola]

22. That caught my eye as well

I am interested to know the fundies explanation on why God's design matched animals colors to their surroundings.

[ldf]

33. animals were colored to match their surroundings

who knew god was so into fashion designing.

better yet, god is now a proponent of evolution. yes, god uses evolution to work his mysterious ways.

and this seasons furs are just TO DIE for.

maybe god could take a few tips from the fab five and their gal pals. :-)

[daleo]

34. It sounds like God wanted all the predators to starve.

According to this logic, God didn't want the predatory animals to have it too easy, which makes you wonder why he bothered designing them in at all. Maybe it just makes a better spectacle that way.

[KittyWampus]

7. That Text Only Makes Sense Esoterically... Using Gematria. Otherwise

it is so absurd taken literally... it is almost (ALMOST) funny.

[Rex_Goodheart]

9. To which verse was the teacher referring?

To which verse was the teacher referring?

[MountainLaurel]

10. Mentioned in the OP

snip

2 Cor 2:14-16 (Phi) "Thanks be to God who leads us, wherever we are, on Christ's triumphant way and makes our knowledge of him spread throughout the world like a lovely perfume! We Christians have the unmistakable 'scent' of Christ, discernible alike to those who are being saved and to those who are heading to death. To the latter it seems like the deathly smell of doom, to the former it has the refreshing fragrance of life itself."

[Toucano]

8. Fee, Fie, Foe, Fum

I smell a nut. LOL!

[knitter4democracy]

11. Oh, come on!

The teacher was from Australia and didn't know that using Christian materials (that she went out, found, and bought with her own money, as they weren't in any of her school-provided materials) was illegal and not approved?!!?!? That's a total lie. She knew it was wrong, and she chose to violate the law because of her own beliefs.

Hey, I was trained to be a teacher at an evangelical Christian college, and my profs there would've been appalled at that behavior. I know that sounds odd, but it's true. We were told over and over again that, if you want to use your classroom as a mission field, don't teach in the public schools. If you want to teach in the publics, then watch yourself and keep your faith to just choosing to act as Christ-like as possible. That woman knew what she was doing.

[msanthrope]

24. Not odd at all--I know lots of actual Christians who would

eschew this kind of behavior as unprincipled, but there's plenty of fundie whackjobs who would think nothing of it.....

[knitter4democracy]

32. True.

I just finished reading the article about the proselytizing teacher in California in the latest New Yorker. That guy is seriously misguided, and his pastor should've sat on him just as much as his principal did.

[Coastie for Truth]

13. I am more concerned with Leviticus

In Santa Clara County CA (Silicon Valley) -a majority of the population belong to faith communities (Muslim, Hindu, Jewish) that nominally (for the more fundie or observant members) prohibit the human consumption of "pig meat."

Maybe we should put a proposition on the ballot banning "pig meat" in Santa Clara County.

[derby378]

14. What text was that teacher using?

Must find! That's way too funny! Or at least it would be if it weren't so sad...

[VegasWolf]

15. "odor only Christians have." biting tongue, biting tongue, will not give

in! Must not open mouth.

[msongs]

17. christ-ian terrorists strike again! remember, heathens, if you are not

a christian you are going to HELL when you die. or is that if you are not a baptist? or was it mormon? umm maybe only cat-holics then...or jim jones cult members...

Msongs
www.msongs.com/political-shirts.htm

[proud2BlibKansan]

20. So is that how they know who gets to go

when the rapture happens? Will they go around smelling each other? LOL

[Toucano]

21. Maybe it'll be like when two dogs meet. n/t

[proud2BlibKansan]

23. LOL

Maybe we can get them all spayed and neutered.

[Trillo]

25. Evangelical codespeak?

"No Child" "Left Behind"

Learning by rote memorization dovetails nicely.

[MisterP]

29. of course! most every speech by Antichrist George has a code phrase

to his fundie base. That includes his "call from beyond the stars," though that might be Azathoth.

[mutus_frutex]

26. Burn her! Burn her!!

:-P

[AngryWhiteLiberal]

30. FIRE THAT DUMBASS XTIAN FUNDIE PIECE OF SHIT...nuff' said.

It's time to start making these christofascists pay for their flaunting on the CONSTITUTION. Love your gOD, but do it while standing in the unemployment line.

JB

[struggle4progress]

31. "Christianity --- It's really just about smelling nice." This message ...

... brought to you by the blasphemers at the Cumberland County publicschools ...

[Hissyspit]

36. Hey, someone recommend this for Greatest. This is too much fun...

to get upset about. By the way, Paul (who was martyred, it's true) was the beginning of the misinterpretation of the messages of Jesus. He was pretty much jerk.